Used revolver purchase, questions

M

Merad

New member
Got my first centerfire revolver, Ruger New Model Blackhawk .357 SS 6.5". 1975 production according to Ruger's serial number charts, finish is nearly perfect and the pawn shop had it at a price that was just too good to pass up.

I've been going through the test on this list. I'll say up front that I'm fairly confident everything is fine on the gun I just want to be overly paranoid and double check since I'm not that experienced with revolvers.

Cylinder gap: A sheet of college-ruled notebook paper fits easily. A sheet of plain printer/copy paper fits with slight resistance. Not sure how thick either of those are but I don't really have anything else to measure it with.

Lock up: Front to back there is a tiny amount of movement. If you hold the gun up to the light and look through the side you can just barely perceive that the cylinder moves a bit front to back. Side to side there is a more noticeable wiggle, I would say that there is maybe half a millimeter or so of rotation.

Obligatory pic:

IMG_0885.jpg
 
Nice revolver!

Front to back cylinder movement is end-shake. Side to side cylinder rotation play while cocked is lock-up. All revolvers except for older Colt's have this rotation play.
 
That is one mighty fine looking revolver you have there. Hope you get out and enjoy it soon
Click to expand...

Well I kind of went the opposite direction from enjoying it! Previous owner apparently wasn't a big fan of detailed cleanings, so there's 40 years of crud inside of it. This is what it currently looks like waiting for me to get some brushes and steel wool to give the inside a thorough scrubbing.

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If the gun was working properly, why take it apart just to clean it? If it ain't broke....

It reminds me of many years ago when Rolls Royce decided to use automatic transmissions in their cars. They took a GM hydromatic transmission apart to improve it. They took it apart and found one rough surface that they smoothed to make the transmission "perfect". They put it back together and it wouldn't work. They ultimately used the transmission as GM manufactured it.
 
Sounds good. Beware the timing portion of the revolver checkout is totally wrong. What you're checking in that part is alignment. Nothing stated has anything to do with timing and the checkout needs to be edited to reflect this.
 
A tiny bit of endshake on a revolver that's very tough for the caliber should be OK. That frame was meant for 44Magnum pressure, you're running it as a 357.
 
If the gun was working properly, why take it apart just to clean it? If it ain't broke....
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Well, I do have a love affair with taking apart mechanical devices to see how they work... especially when I'm reasonably confident that I can put them back together. :D

I didn't originally plan this deep of a cleaning though. It wasn't until I saw how dirty the insides were that I decided to go all the way. I'm fairly sure that the internals of this gun haven't seen any kind of cleaning since it was originally assembled. It's already 40 years old, and I'd like it to last the remainder of my life - hopefully a good 60-70 more years - if not longer. So why not give it the deep clean now?

Besides, the Ruger engineers earned their pay designing this beaut. It's very easy to disassemble.
 
Just in case anyone was worried (ye of little faith), I will confirm that everything is back together and working perfectly. And man, the action is just smooth as silk now. A little cleaning and some oil can work wonders. :cool:
 
There ain't a whole lotta parts to a single action, it's a real simple machine. Taking it apart and putting it back together is kinda fun.

Nice gun have fun with it.
 
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